KAYLA + STEVE WEDDING DAY

They first met at Kayla’s aunt’s hair salon when Steve had stopped in with his mom. Kayla was 14, and Steve was 16. After first seeing him, she knew she had to get to know him more. He immediately thought she was magical.  Kayla’s friend was dating one of his friends at the time, so she would constantly bug her to ask her boyfriend to see if Steve liked her. They ended up chatting on Yahoo Messenger. lol
They went on their first date.
Bowling.
She says she demolished him.
He says he let her win.
Within 6 months he gave her a promise ring.  He’ll admit, he knew she was the one immediately.
They dated 14 years.  They did so much life together and supported one another in every step.
He always told her that when he sold his Mustang eventually, he would use the money to buy her a ring.  So when she woke up one day and he told her he’d sold his car she excitedly knew the next step was near.  The moment she found the ring she wanted, he bought it.  It’s a proposal story that is 100% “them”.
They planned to get married 2 years after he proposed and envisioned a beautiful fall day in a quiet, intimate ceremony in a beautiful garden setting – and that is exactly what happened one month ago today on September 28th, 2019.
We are so excited to share Kayla and Steve’s sneak peek at their beautiful day with you today!!  Enjoy every beautiful moment!
I could not get enough of Kayla’s dress!  It was so sparkly and princess-y just like her!These two are so cute together.  Their first look was just so tender and sweet.  There’s a long list of what we love about Kayla and Steve, but one of the things we love is the way they are so in sync with one another.  In an instant, they can go from quiet and semi-serious to cracking up laughing.  The way they interact is just so distinctly perfect.Oh Kayla.  Dang-it you are such perfection.  So some of you who are the OGs of TenSixteen – back to when TenSixteen was Starry-eyed Studios (so yeah – WAY back) may remember Kayla.  We did her senior photos and it was still to this day one of our favorite sessions of all time.  This girl can WORK a camera.  Her style and look has always been so unique and fun, and Kayla was up for anything for her session.  Still being obsessed even after, I made her dress up in a cheap Ebay bought wedding dress to do some modeling photos for me back when “Trash the Dress Sessions” were popular.  She stood in water at a quarry and wore angel wings.  (Don’t judge people, it was perfectly on-trend 11 years ago!  I barely even had a Facebook account!)  I’ll share more about that shoot later, but this was just such a full-circle moment!  All those years (and trends) later to have this girl in front of our lenses again was such an honor.  We ADORE this girl!Even though the two were dating at the time of Kayla’s session we didn’t know about him, but once Facebook did become part of daily life I kept seeing this Steve guy in all her photos.  Prom, graduation, college graduation, and life.  I figured he must be something special to steal Kayla’s heart, but after finally meeting him it just made perfect sense.  Steve is SO FLIPPING NICE. Like truly, hes a total gem.  He really completes Kayla in a way that I can’t put into words, but all I can say is it just works.  The two of them seperately are fantastic people, but together they are pure magic.That’s my girl – just perfection.
You’re going to go through this post and say to yourself “dang, this bride and groom have a ton of photos together!” (and you’re only seeing a small portion!)  But the photo below is part of the reason why these two were able to spend ample time getting great images – their amazing, reasonable sized wedding party!!  The couple kept it simple and had their dearest friends as their wedding party, so things never got overwhelming or like herding cats.  I know every wedding has a certain amount of circumstances they have to work around, but Kayla and Steve made the best possible choices to yield the best possible photos.  (i.e., smaller wedding party, first look, a coordinator, ample amount of time built into the timeline, and manageable expectations.)
The two had an intimate ceremony which felt so incredibly meaningful.  I cried.  I think everyone cried. Kayla’s sweet cousin Candice really cried.I could just live right here in this setting. So perfect.

MORE FROM THE BRIDE AND GROOM:

Moment the couple looked most forward to on the wedding day:
PICTURES! I could not wait to have Karin and Roger capture our day. I knew they would make it special.
Favorite moment of the day:
I enjoyed the ceremony. I loved how intimate it was, and the fact that I had no idea what our officiant was going to say. It turned out perfect! Steve’s favorite moment was our first dance. He also thought it was cute that I was shaking throughout the ceremony. 
Funny mishaps or moments from your wedding day:
Out of all the days for Steve to have a swollen eye and the worst stye he’s ever had, it had to be our wedding day! lol!
Songs:
First dance: Pistol by Dustin Kensrue
Mother/son and father/daughter dance: My Wish by Rascal Flatts
If you could do it all over, would you change anything?:
No way! It was literally perfect! We enjoyed every second! Steve says he wished he didn’t have a swollen eye lol
Advice for future bride/grooms:
Please do not stress or overthink. It will all work out in the end. Enjoy your special day.
Wedding professionals who made the day spectacular:
You!
Also, Incredibly delicious did an amazing job on our cake! We had so many involved that made our day spectacular! My wedding planner and good friend Darrah made sure everything was perfect! I will forever be grateful for her. Also, my good friend Jessica and mother, Judy, from Be Our Guest catering. Best Italian beef ever! And last, but certainly not least, my good friend Patty, for making the delicious cupcakes!! We are very blessed.
Honeymoon Location:
Will we be going to Disney World and Harry Potter World.

The two callAburn Illinois home.

See more from this beautiful day in the slideshow below – and bring a tissue when you do.  (yes Candice, I’m looking at you LOL)

So back to the used wedding dress shoot back in 2008/2009… if you were around for Starry-eyed Studios you would have seen that the face of our branding was this adorable bride with a pixie cut, blowing bubble gum, in front of a bright blue background. It was my – and many others – favorite photo ever.  Now an actual bride, we had to recreate this infamous photo 10ish years later.  Even though we didn’t have the Bubbilicious and Kayla was getting bitten by no-see-ums (what is with these bug epidemics in the midwest anyway?) she still managed to rock it!!  Thank you Kayla for always trusting my ideas, and being such a good sport!  (coxcomb and all!)